Sign In

Search

Big Data and Big Business

I was surprised to read this blogger's piece about big data in the workplace. It seems to me that there is no centralized database for sharing data within companies.

The common practice for researchers gathering data is to pick out only the relevant data they need to accomplish their research objectives. Be it gaining consumer insight, measuring the competition, or increasing sales, the researchers take data relevant to their goals and throw what they don't need away.

Unfortunately, it's as the old saying goes, "one man's trash is another man's treasure." In the world of research, this trashed data can benefit researchers and analysts in other parts of the company. Instead of being able to use the already-gathered data of their coworkers, they must take the time and resources to gather their own.

The author proposes the creation of a "customer-centric" and "cross-departmental collaboration" of research-sharing that would ensure no data would ever go to waste. He calls for the creation of the Customer Experience Officer (CEO) to facilitate these new models of information-sharing within big business.

The reason I found this all so very surprising is because I learned in another research class that most major companies have their own libraries. To my understanding, these libraries are havens for company records and all sorts of other information pertaining to the company. I guess, however, that only data deemed relevant to the current researcher makes it into the library. If that's the case, then I think companies need to adopt this data-sharing model immediately.